Stunning detail emerges about Robert Mueller’s interview with Donald Trump adviser Hope Hicks
For weeks we’ve been hearing that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was planning to interview Donald Trump’s longtime close political adviser Hope Hicks about the Trump-Russia scandal. Now we finally have confirmation that it’s happened. Furthermore we know precisely when it took place. As per usual nothing is leaking from Mueller’s side – but one stunning detail has emerged about the Hicks interview.
Hicks has long acted as an information gateway for Donald Trump, who doesn’t use email. If anyone in Trump’s orbit wants to get information directly to Trump, it’s given to Hicks in the hope that she’ll pass it along to him. All along, the two big questions have been how much Hicks knew about the Trump-Russia scandal, and how much she was willing to give up. Earlier this week Donald Trump Jr admitted that he told Hicks about his treasonous meeting with the Russian government at Trump Tower. This means Hicks knew, and it all but confirmed that Donald Trump knew as well. Then came her testimony, and it looks like we got our answer as to whether she gave Trump up.
The New York Times was the first to confirm that Robert Mueller had interviewed Hope Hicks (link). Here’s the stunning detail the NYT revealed: Mueller interviewed Hicks on Thursday and Friday. Her interview lasted two full days. This tells us a couple of things. First, Mueller went into the interview knowing the full extent of what Hicks knew, and it took him considerable time to grill her on all of it. Second, it means that she cooperated for two full days. The interview would never have lasted that long if she were being uncooperative, because Mueller would have ended it and moved forward with criminal obstruction charges against her instead.
This means, in effect, that Hope Hicks gave up everything. She told Robert Mueller everything that the Trump campaign told her about the Russia plot, and she also told Mueller everything that she passed along to Donald Trump. Mueller clearly waited until after Donald Trump Jr implicated Hicks before interviewing her, and it’s fairly evident that she responded by giving up the Trump clan.
